Faber Castell Peru: Workers organize in unions

11 April 2016 14:26

With the creation of the Workers' Trade Union of Faber-Castell in Peru a
new step is given towards the genuine social dialogue and labour
relations between the German multinational and its workers at the
facilities of the city of Lima, Peru.

In a General Assembly, in mid-November this year, the workers of AW
Faber Castell Peruana SA decided to form a union that groups together
all workers and so allow a collective bargaining with the company as
established by the Social Charter and / or the International Framework
Agreement signed in 2001 between Count Anton Wolfgang Von Faber-Castell
and the Building and Wood Workers' International (www.bwint.org).

Since the Social Audit, which was made in late 2014 and throughout 2015,
the management of human resources of Faber-Castell Peru, the BWI
leadership and workers' representatives have held talks with more than
850 workers about the working conditions in the plant.

At present, the international trade union family grouped in the BWI, and
particularly its affiliate in Germany, IG Metal, that along with other
Faber Castell's labour unions across the world monitors the Framework
Agreement, has sent a greeting because of the maturity shown by the
company and the newly born union organization. "...this Is a historical
sign of maturity and social responsibility for one of the oldest
companies in the world, as an example of high standards of quality among
which are included the industrial relations of respect and
consideration between the management and workers," said Nilton Freitas,
Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the BWI,
who today has also sent a letter to the general management in welcoming
this initiative.

From the trade union side, the first union leadership sees this
experience as the possibility of being represented before the employer,
to have a cohesiveness as a group than as individuals they don't, which
allows them to represent their peers in the various instances of the
collective bargaining, sign the relevant collective work tools, ensure
their compliance and enforce the rights that arise from them, in search
of improving the living conditions of workers and their families, said
Eddy Huamán, first General Secretary of the union leadership.